Vending-machine.



No. 862,923. PATENTED AUG. 13, 1907. v

S. E. LINSLEY.

VENDING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED APR. 20. 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Ill], 7

{ [A1 VENTOR PATENTED AUG. 13, 1907.

sfs. LINSLEY.

VENDING MACHINE.

APPLIUATION FILED APR. 20, 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

IVITNESSES LY VE N T OR A ilamq 1' NTTE SAMUEL ELLSWORTH LINSLEY, OF WINTHROP, MINNESOTA.

VE NDING-MAOHINE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 13, 1907.

Application filed April 20,1906. Serial No. 312,885-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL ELLSWORTH LINsLEY, a resident of Winthrop, in the county of Sibley and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vending-Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact deseription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improved vending machine, the object ofthe invention being to provide improvements of this character designed for vending marbles and the like, in which improved mechanism is employed insuring the delivery of a predetermined number of the articles when the proper coin is inserted and the machine operated.

With this and other objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts as will be more fully hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in elevation of my improved machine. Fig. 2 is a view in vertical section. Fig. 3 is a view in horizontal section. Figs. 4 and 5 are enlarged views of the coin controlling and delivery mechanism.

1 represents a casing which may be niade of any material and ornamented in any desired manner. The

casing front is provided with a horizontal series of windows 2 for the display of the articles vendcd, with coin slots 3 and push rods 4 below the windows to enable the purchaser to secure the articles that best suit his .fancy.

The upper portion of the casing is provided with a series of storage chambers or bins 5, for marbles 6 or other articles, and said bins are made with inclined bottoms to direct the marbles into vertical tubes 7, said tubes discharging into delivery pockets 8 in the bottom and front of the casing.

To the front of the tubes 7, long trip levers 9 are pivotally secured between their ends, and provided at their lower ends with tongues 10 projecting into the tubes and serving as stops to hold the marbles in the tubes. The upper ends of the lovers 9 are provided with cross plates 11. forming T-heads, one end of each of which, when forced into a tube serves to cut off the marbles and let those below the plate escape, as tongues 10 at the lower ends of the lovers will be pulled out as the upper ends of the lovers are forced into the tubes, due to the central fulcrum oi the levers.

As each and every complete unit of the machine is alike, the following description of one will apply alike to all.

I The lower end of lever 9 is made with a prong 12, and a pivoted trip 13 projects into tube 7 below tongue 10 and is held in horizontal position by a heavy arm 14 thereon, outside the tube. When the lever 9 is swung to draw the tongue 10 outward and permit the marbles to drop, the marbles will depress trip 13, thus elevating arm 14 into the path of prong 12 and preventing any re-, turn of the tongue 10 to thetube until allthe marbles located below plate 11 have passed out of tube 7, when the arm 14 will fall of its own weight and the lever can return to its former or normal position, permitting the marbles to fill the tube7 from the chamber or bin and be supported on tongue 10 as before.

Each push rod 4 is provided with a spring 15 normally holding the push rod in its outwardly extended position. The inner end of the rod-4 is made with an enlarged head, having a vertical coin slot 16 located at right angles to a ratchet bar 17 fixed to a supporting block 18 below the rod and below the coin slot.

Communicating with a coin slot 3 is a coin guide 18 terminating above the slot 16 in the push rod, to direct the coin thereinto, and this guide 18 is provided with an oblong slot in its under side to discharge disks or coins which are too small, but said slot will not interfere with the movement of the proper coin through the guide. When the coin 19 is in the slot 16, its upper end will .project above the push rod head and lie in the path of plate 11, so that when the push rod is forced inward, the coin 19 will serve to connect the rod and plate 11 and lever 9 will be tripped, as above explained. The coin 19 is supported on the ratchet bar 17 and the teeth of the latter prevent any return of the push rod until the latter has been forced to its extreme position, when the coin will pass over the end of the ratchet bar and drop into a coin receptacle below. This ratchet bar 17 is preferably made of spring metal to insure its proper engagement with the coin and the levers 9 are provided with springs 20 to hold them in normal position and return them to such position. When no coin is in the push rod slot 16, the push rod can be forced inward without moving lever 9, as the latter must be moved by the coin in the slot 16. If the coin is too large it will not enter slot 16 but will fall to one side and if the coin is too small it will fall out of the guide 18.

A great many slight changes might be made in the general form and arrangement of parts described without departing from my invention, and hence, I do not restrict myself to the precise details set forth but consider myself at liberty to make such slight changes and alterations as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters-Patent is 1. In a vending machine, the combination with a container, of a lever pivoted between its ends, a tongue on the lower end of the lever to extend into the container, a plate on the upper end of the lever to move into the container to cutrofi a number of articles when the tongue is moved out of the path of the articles, means for controlling the operation of the lever and means operated by the released articles to hold the lever against return movement, until all the articles below the cut-0X1 plate have escaped from the container. 7

2. In a vending machine, the combination with a container, of a lever pivoted between its ends, a spring hold ing the lever in normal position, a tongue on the lower end of the lever to extend into the container, :1 prong on the lower end of the lover, a trip to engage the prongs and ,hold the lever tongue out of the path of the moving articles, a plate on the upper end of the lever, and means for controlling the movement of the lever to withdraw the tongue from the container and project the plate thereinto.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

SAMUEL ELLSWORTH LINSLEY.

Witnesses:

G. ELMER s'rnou'r, CHAS. W. QUANDT. 

